Soroban Capital Partners LP Has $331.80 Million Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 60.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. FirstEnergy accounts for approximately 4.4% of Soroban Capital Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Soroban Capital Partners LP owned 1.45% of FirstEnergy worth $331,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,981,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $158,403,000 after buying an additional 206,000 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,785,000. Private Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Capital Management LLC now owns 23,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $936,000 after buying an additional 7,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 116,150 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,620,000 after buying an additional 36,332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.11. 4,250,831 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,686,594. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.18 and a 200 day moving average of $40.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is 94.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.